Строй современного английского языка
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| INSERTED CLAUSES
By an inserted clause we mean a clause appearing within another clause and interrupting its structure. A clause of this kind may either be asyndetic, or it may be introduced by a conjunction, most usually perhaps by the conjunction for. An inserted clause usually contains some information serving to elucidate what is said in the main body of the sentence, or it may be a casual interruption due to the speaker suddenly thinking of something vaguely connected with what he is talking about, etc. There is certainly no reason to term an inserted clause subordinate, since no signs of subordination are to be found. Neither is there any valid reason for saying it is co-ordinate in the sense that clauses are co-ordinate within a compound sentence. Indeed there are no clear signs which would prove that a sentence with an inserted clause is a composite sentence at all — though this of course depends on the exact interpretation we give of the notion of "composite sentence". The question whether a sentence with an inserted clause should or should not be considered a composite sentence is, after all, of little theoretical interest, and we here content ourselves with stating that we will not take it as composite. The sentence with the inserted clause taken out of it is a simple sentence (unless of course it contains coordinate or subordinate clauses) and with the inserted clause it may be reckoned as a special type — a simple sentence with an inserted clause. Now let us consider a few examples of a sentence with an inserted clause. In our first example the clause coming between the predicate and the subject of the main clause contains information about the author of the statement,- and in this respect is is akin to parenthetical clauses. The bird-fancier could tell him little, but there was, he had declared, no doubt a great deal of information on the subject somewhere in his notes and as soon as they were properly indexed he would exhume it. (BUECHNER) In the two following examples the inserted clause has nothing of a parenthesis about it: Before he went down — patent leather was his final choice — he looked at himself critically in the glass. (HUXLEY) In the Times, therefore — he had a distrust of other papers — he 826 Asyndetic Composite Sentences. Inserted Clauses r ead the announcement for the evening. (GALSWORTHY) The inserted clause he had a distrust of other papers explains why he (old Jolyon Forsyte) took up the "Times", and at the same time it adds a certain characteristic feature to the portrait of the man. If the clause were introduced by the conjunction for, which would not involve any essential change of meaning but would only make it somewhat more explicit, the clause would still be an inserted clause. Our next example is somewhat different: There was a great deal more pleasure than formerly, pleasure was practically continuous — dancing at the Country Club every Saturday night in summer and quite often in winter, lunch with cards or golf and dinner parties — Wilson and she had at least four or five invitations every week — and short and long trips by automobile. (HERGESHEIMER) The inserted clause Wilson and she had at least four or five invitations every week comes in and interrupts a sequence of appositions to the subject pleasure, namely, dancing... lunch... Download 1.77 Mb. Share with your friends:
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